


Unsupervised

by ProfessorDrarry



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Baby sitting, Cute Teddy Lupin, Domestic Fluff, Established Relationship, M/M, Pillow & Blanket Forts, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Uncle Draco, Uncle Harry, fluff on fluff, seriously it's just fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-12
Updated: 2017-06-12
Packaged: 2018-11-13 03:08:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,349
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11175729
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ProfessorDrarry/pseuds/ProfessorDrarry
Summary: "In my defence," Draco deadpanned. "I was left unsupervised."Can Draco survive a night of babysitting a five-year-old Metamorphmagus? I mean...probably not.Unattached oneshot because domestic Draco was plaguing me.





	Unsupervised

**Author's Note:**

> Established relationship, so prepare accordingly. A quick note on the word 'Daido'; this is, in fact, not the Irish word for grandfather (not spelt the same, not pronounced the same...I called my own grandfather Daideo, so I promise). Instead, Draco's nickname is like 'day-dough', like you have a super bad cold when you are trying to say Draco's name.
> 
> Sorry for the fluff. Watch out; stuff'll rot your teeth ;)

 

Harry walked into the room and felt his mouth fall open. Draco's head was sticking out of a pile of pillows, resting on the crook of his arms, and his eyes were closed.

"Draco?!" he shouted in shock and slight fear. "What...where...why...no, hang on, first off...Where is Teddy!?"

Draco's head snapped up, and he surveyed the general chaos all around him. He sighed.

"Oh relax. Teddy is asleep. In his bed."

"What in Merlin's name happened here?!"

Draco looked around once more; he looked at the completely destroyed couch, cushions and blankets piled on top of him. He looked at the mess of paper that was lying on every surface, and the remnants of what may or may not be shaving cream smearing the walls.

"In my defence," Draco deadpanned. "I was left unsupervised."

* * *

_Six Hours Earlier _

"You have got to be kidding me! Harry, you cannot leave me alone with the god spawn!" Draco hissed.

"Draco, stop being so melodramatic. I have to leave him with you! I'm out of options," Harry said, pushing up his glasses and rubbing his eyes in frustration. "Molly has a cold, Ginny is in Wales, and Ron and Hermione are at the event with me. Teddy doesn't know anyone else, and you know what he's like around strangers!"

Draco just glared, aware that he had lost. Harry only put his glasses on his head when things were a done deal and he was simply speaking still to appease a very grumpy Pureblood. He didn't actually want to leave Teddy with anyone else, but he was definitely afraid of babysitting alone. He'd never had to do that. And since he was hardly about to admit to being afraid of a five-year-old, he went with melodrama and general anger instead.

"I don't understand why you didn't see this problem when you told Andromeda you could take him this week…" Draco grumbled.

"Draco. It's three hours. I didn't plan on having to go," Harry said. Again. He sighed, "And, oh yeah, WE HAVE ALREADY HAD THIS CONVERSATION."

"I don't like children," Draco mumbled, crossing his arms and staring at a space above Harry's head.

"You don't say," Harry drawled. "Draco. He's five. It's three hours. You feed him. You bathe him. You put him to bed and that's it. You can handle this. You are a brilliant wizard, and it's one kid in an empty house."

"Don't try and use flattery," Draco muttered, even though they both knew that flattery was usually the answer. "But fine. I suppose it'll be fine."

"There's nothing to worry about, D," Harry said, kissing his temple and going to get ready.

* * *

_Four Hours Earlier_

"Daido."

"Teddy."

"Daaaaaaaaido."

"What is it, Teddy?" Draco said, eyes narrowing suspiciously.

Teddy stuck his bottom lip out and crossed his arms, "I don't want broccoli."

"Erm...okay?" Draco said, shrugging. Vegetables didn't seem worth the battle when the kid's hair was already violet. "You don't have to eat the broccoli tonight."

Teddy narrowed his eyes, not believing the grown up telling him he didn't have to eat green things.

"Really?" His hair wavered back to brown.

"Yeah, whatever," Draco said, not getting why this was a big deal. "Do you want more chicken?"

"No."

"Okay?"

"I want ice cream," the small boy declared.

"Harry said there were oatmeal cookies?" Draco said, figuring sweet things were sweet things.

Teddy apparently disagreed. He stood on his chair, crossed his arms, and all but screamed.

"Teddy wants ice cream," the indignant tiny person shouted, his hair going a terrifying shade of orange.

Draco thought about it. He knew two things; one, he knew that there was rocky road in the freezer. And two, he knew that it had only been an hour since Harry had left. He wasn't sure he wanted to start a meltdown this early. He'd never hear the end of it if he had to call Harry back from the Ministry.

"Well..." he hesitated.

"Daido," Teddy said in a terrifying approximation of Harry's warning tone. "Don't tease."

"Oh, okay," Draco sighed. He didn't see the harm. "I guess so."

"YESSS!" Teddy yelled, leaping down and throwing his broccoli at the sink. He started running around the table until he finally sat back down, wiggling hilariously and almost making Draco laugh.

* * *

_Three Hours Earlier_

Draco stood in the middle of the lounge unable to see where he had lost the thread. Teddy was currently running in large loops around the couch and coffee table, pretending he was Superman and Spiderman and possibly also the Hulk, all at the same time. He had one arm in his pyjama top, one foot in a sock, and not another stitch of clothing on his body. His hair had gone a funny multicoloured wave and was also standing straight up on top of his head.

"DAIDO!" Teddy screamed on this next fly past, "WATCH OUT THERE IS A BAD GUY COMING AND YOU ARE STANDING RIGHT IN THE WAY. NNRRROO! WOOOSH!"

"Teddy," Draco said for the hundredth time, patience wavering. "Tedster. It's time for bed."

"No, it's nooot," Teddy sang, jumping from the table to the couch in triumph. "I haven't had a bath yet!"

"Yes," Draco sighed. "Well, that's what we were on our way to do, remember?"

"Can't."

"Can't?" Draco said warily, afraid of what the newest objection was going to be.

Teddy froze mid bad guy killing and looked very seriously at Draco. Or at least, as seriously as a mostly naked five year old on too much sugar could look at anyone.

"Nope. Can't."

"Um. Why not?"

"Because, Daido," Teddy said, rolling his eyes in a way that reminded Draco uncomfortably of himself. "The second-floor bathroom has a monster in it, and only Uncle Harry can make it go and hide until bath time is over, and because Uncle Harry is not here, I CAN'T HAVE A BATH."

Teddy resumed his bad-guy vanquishing, which currently consisted of pulling every sofa cushion off the sofa and swinging it violently, getting dangerously close to the box full of floo powder that sat on the mantle.

"Oh," Draco said lamely. "I, erm, I am very good at monster telling off. I could go make him hide."

"You don't speak the right language," Teddy said scathingly.

"I don't?" Draco said, quirking an eyebrow.

"Nope. The monster is a snake monster."

"Ah. I see. Okay," Draco said, thinking quickly. "Well...what if you had a bath in the big bath?"

Teddy froze again. If his ears could have twitched, Draco was pretty sure they would be now.

"Uncle Harry's big bath?" he said cautiously.

"Yes?" Draco said, suddenly very much regretting the suggestion without yet knowing why.

"I'm not allowed to use the big bath unless it's a very special occasion," Teddy said, head tilted to the side in a hilarious puppy-like fashion.

"Well," Draco said, lifting his chin and trying to look more authoritative than he felt. "Seems like a special occasion to me. Does it to you, Edward?"

Teddy giggled, "Why yes, Sir Draco, it does."

"Right then," Draco gestured grandly. "Off to Big Tub with you!"

Draco acted on a whim and swung Teddy up over his shoulder and upside down as he'd seen Harry do a hundred times. The little boy squealed violently and laughed all the way up the stairs. By the time he reached the top, Draco was smiling and almost laughing again.

Of course, twenty minutes later, he was fully aware of why the bathtub rule had been enacted.

"Teddy!" he shouted again. "You can't keep taking my wand! It's dangerous!"

"I just wanted to see what happened when I pointed it at the shaving cream mountain!"

'Yes, well, now you know. I'm not even sure where the rest has ended up!" Draco said loudly, scrubbing his face. "Okay, enough. You have to get out now."

"NO!" Teddy screamed.

"Teddy, you have to-"

"NO. NO NO NO NO NO," Teddy said, splashing water with every assertion. "I WON'T AND YOU CAN'T MAKE ME."

Draco sighed. The problem was that he very much could make Teddy get out, but even he knew that wasn't going to end well. He tried a different tactic first.

"Evanesco," he muttered, pointing his re-confiscated wand at the water and watching with satisfaction as it disappeared, making Teddy shiver instantly.

"Uh oh, Tedster," he said gravely. "Looks like the bath decided bathtime is over too."

"DAIDO. I saw you do that," Teddy said with a long-suffering sigh, nonetheless allowing himself to be wrapped in a towel and pulled from the tub.

He snuggled down into Draco's neck in his towel as Draco carried him into Harry's room. It was _almost_ comforting. Something strange and warm lit up in the pit of his stomach.

* * *

_Two hours earlier_

Finally enclosed in the entirety of his pyjamas, Teddy demanded to go downstairs for his bedtime story. Since Draco knew this one was an actual routine with Harry, he acquiesced and followed the stampeding little boy down the stairs at a more leisurely pace, holding both the giant book of muggle stories that Harry had purchased, and Beedle the Bard. He really hoped that the kid was in a magical story kind of mood. He was getting better, but he was still pretty uncomfortable with the muggle stuff. He wasn't sure he'd get through a muggle fairy tale without screwing it up or rolling his eyes at the ludicrous nature of it all.

In the forty minutes it had taken to get Teddy in and out of the bath, Draco had completely forgotten that the child had destroyed the living room. The cushions were everywhere, there were paper and crayons in every corner, and Draco quickly discovered exactly where the rest shaving cream had gone in Teddy's accidental banishing- namely, all over the dark green walls of the living room. He sighed, but Teddy was unphased. He went straight to the sofa, looked at if for a second, then turned around.

"Daido… " he said slowly.

"No," Draco warned. "Whatever it is, absolutely not."

Teddy pouted,"But it'd be so easy to build a fort right now, Daido. A story reading fort! Please?"

Draco paused.

He'd grown up in a stupidly strict Pureblood way. He'd had fun, in his way, but there were stories told in the Slytherin common room, stories from the half-bloods and the muggle-borns…

He'd had a list of things to do since he was eleven. And he still had not managed to cross 'sleep in a blanket fort of his list'.

Teddy's hair went aquamarine in excitement. The child was really too perceptive for his own good.

"You have to help me, though. I don't know how," Draco said, smiling indulgently.

"Really? But you're a grown-up!" Teddy said incredulously.

Draco just shrugged, so Teddy nodded solemnly, affecting the same face that Harry did when he was going to teach someone something new, and began piling cushions, patiently explaining each step to Draco. He felt the smile that had been on his face the entire night widen; Teddy was a little sponge of a thing. Even only spending random weeks with them, he had picked up so many of Harry's mannerisms that it was like watching a tiny Potter sometimes. It was both horrifying and extremely endearing.

It didn't take long for Draco to realise that he could make the job faster and easier with his wand, and Teddy helped move things by hand silently, save for the occasional giggle when a pillow made a strange sound when hit with a sticking charm. He felt very proud when they finished twenty minutes later.

The fort was a thing of beauty, with lots of space and a comfy nest of blankets and little floating lights that he'd set inside. Teddy climbed in excitedly and nestled down calmly. Draco sighed in relief. There seemed to have been a shift in energy level with the five-year-old and he crossed his fingers it would hold as he followed the kid into the fort and sat down beside him.

"Magic or Muggle?" he said quietly.

"Magic," Teddy said, reaching for Beedle.

* * *

_One Hour Earlier_

After Babbity Rabbitty, read both at normal speed and at super speed, followed by Hopping Pot, complete with voices, Draco closed the book gently. Teddy hadn't moved in a while so Draco paused. He turned and found soft amber eyes watching him carefully, his arms lazily looped over Draco's torso.

"Uncle Harry says I have to stop calling you 'Daido'," Teddy said softly when he saw Draco looking at him.

"What?" Draco said, shocked. "When?"

"Dunno. But he said I'm a big boy and it's not your name and I have to call you your proper name," Teddy said, looking down and fiddling with the hem of Draco's shirt, seeming embarrassed.

Draco was confused.

"He says you don't like it," Teddy finished. It seemed like he'd been holding this in for a while.

"Teddy," Draco started, trying to find a way to say what he was trying to say.

Technically, all of this was true. At first, Draco had not loved the weird nickname. But Teddy had been just been a baby. He'd gritted his teeth and dealt with it. Saying words with D and R had not been a thing for a while. He was more patient than most people gave him credit, so he had only ever told Harry that the nickname bugged him. He wasn't a person who generally held with frivolities like nicknames; Harry, of course, had rolled his eyes at him and told him to stop being a wanker. They'd just started dating, at that point, and they had bigger issues to deal with.

But now?

Now, he'd been dating Harry for a little over three years. They'd been through enough with their families, with their friends, with the wizarding world that the conversation about nicknames seemed like a very distant thing. Draco's whole life had had to change; welcome changes, all of them, but still. And Aunt Andromeda had never once even batted an eyelash.

While everyone else was was busy questioning them and judging them, she had fussed and mothered them and invited them round for tea. Draco figured her life with Ted had taught her a lot. As a result, they spent a lot of time with Teddy. He loved the little troublemaker, begrudgingly and with a lot of snarky comments, but he did.

And now, he was Teddy's Daido. He took a deep breath and looked back down at the boy.

"I know why Uncle Harry said that, Tedster," he said gently, going on instinct and smoothing down the kid's now light brown hair. "But I promise, I want you to keep calling me Daido."

Teddy looked up at Draco as if making sure he was serious, and smiled sleepily when he decided he was. He nuzzled into Draco's side and closed his eyes. Draco continued to stroke his hair gently as the little boy sniffed and breathed slower.

Eventually, Draco decided he was asleep and carried him slowly up to his bed. He didn't think Harry would appreciate them actually sleeping in the fort.

He went back downstairs and surveyed the carnage. And did nothing. He settled back into his spot in the fort instead and waited. It would prove his point better if he left the easily cleaned up mess until Harry saw it.

* * *

_Now_

"Well," Harry said, amused. "I'm not surprised by the bath, really, and I figured the fort would happen. He's been talking about them since Ron built one with him last month. The accidental magic is good. I suppose I'm not surprised, but that is the first time. You okay?"

Draco nodded blandly and patted the floor beside him. Harry laughed.

"Let me go change out of the penguin outfit first," he said, laughing again at Draco's confusion. "Don't worry, Muggle expression. Be right back."

While he changed into pyjamas, Draco thought. When Harry came, he was quiet and contemplative still.

"Uh oh. Was it really that bad? Are you still mad at me?"

Draco shook his head, rearranging his face to be less serious as he said, "We actually had fun, I think. Hey, Harry?"

"Hmm?" Harry said, settling in next to Draco and smiling at the 'ceiling' and the lights. "This fort seems suspiciously sturdy."

Draco shrugged his shoulders from beneath his head, muttering, "Magic."

"Cheater."

Draco smiled a small smile and didn't apologise.

"Harry," he tried again.

"Yeah?"

"We're having kids."

Harry's head snapped up, "Seriously? A few hours ago you didn't want to take care of your nephew for an evening and now you want to own one of your very own? They aren't kittens, D."

"I've always wanted kids, actually," Draco said, not rising to the challenge.

Harry opened his mouth and closed it again. Draco didn't force the issue. He tucked his head into Harry's chest instead and hugged him. For long minutes, he dozed against Harry and didn't say anything more.

"I mean," Harry said, smoothing Draco's hair out of his eyes and making him smirk because of the symmetry. "I suppose we could consider the possibility of talking about having kids."

"Discuss the fact that we are having one, you mean," Draco said sleepily.

"Draco, it's midnight. We'll talk when you're awake."

"K," Draco said, yawning. "Think we can get away with sleeping here?"

"I don't see why not," Harry chuckled.

"Hey," Draco said, remembering. "Did you tell Teddy not to call me Daido anymore?"

"You don't like Daido," Harry shrugged. "Thought it was time."

"Well, yeah, but," Draco said.

"What, seriously?"

"Well, I am Daido. I don't think I can handle being 'Uncle Draco' all of a sudden…"

"I don't believe it. Three years. It's been three years and I still don't fucking understand you," Harry said, smacking Draco lightly on the back of the head.

"Keeps the mystery alive," Draco retaliated, pinching Harry's stomach and making him squirm. "Night you evil bastard."

"Night you confusing bugger," Harry said.

* * *

 

_ Three Hours Later _

At 3 am, Draco jolted awake to the sound of a terrified wail. Even half asleep, he knew immediately what had happened; Teddy had had a nightmare. Not anything particularly frightening, not like his own nightmares. Not like Harry's. Just the normal nightmares of a five-year-old child. He had then gone to Harry and Draco's bedroom, just as he always did, only to discover them both missing.

He ran up the flight of stairs, ignoring the fact that Harry had not budged, and wondering if he had cast a silencing charm on himself again. Must have been having a bad night.

Draco found Teddy curled in a ball on the floor, whimpering. He immediately scooped up the small boy, making soothing sounds and clutching him close.

"Shh, little one, it's okay. You're safe, I'm here," he said calmly as Teddy gulped for air.

"I-thought-y-you'd-gone," Teddy said between gasps.

"We would never leave you, Teddy. It's okay. Bad dream?" Draco asked, already walking back down the stairs to the fort.

Teddy nodded against his neck but didn't elaborate, already calming down and falling back asleep. Reaching the living room, he carefully set the boy down. He immediately snuggled himself into the mess of blankets beside Harry, safe and comfortable now that he knew where his people were, used to wrangling room between his uncles and not phased by the fact that he was now in the fort.

Harry turned towards Draco as he crawled back into the tent after the kid, feeling ridiculous as he crawled on his hands and knees. They really should have just gone to their bed.

"Fine?" Harry muttered, largely asleep still.

"Yes," Draco replied fondly. "No thanks to you, you nutter."

Harry didn't reply, but he did throw a proprietary arm over both of them and slept again. Draco curled protectively around Teddy and sighed in contentment. Harry was helpful most of the time when he wasn't asleep. Draco decided he would let it go.

Just this once.


End file.
